in the news

via united way and highlighted in a local news story last night .. in order for a parent and preschool aged child to live in Santa Clara County and afford basic expenses, such as housing, medical expenses and child care, and not receive public assistance, the adult must earn $27 per hour
in San Francisco County, the amount is $23 per hour, in nearby less expensive counties, the amount is $20 per hour
1 in 4 families here in the Bay Area can't afford basic expenses
the article below goes on to hint that the responsibility to "fix" this mess belongs to employers
4 years ago my daughter and i were forced to find a new place to live .. it took me 3 months before i was even able to find ONE apartment that was available .. a small 2 bedroom 1 bath in nearby Sunnyvale for $2,200 a month .. by 10 am there was a waiting list of over 30 families for that apartment
visitors to the Bay Area could plan on spending a minimum of $300 a night for a hotel room IF they could find one available
there were auctions being held on available housing .. i recall one friend of my ex-husbands having a room to rent .. he encouraged interested parties to "make an offer" .. what started out as $500 a month ended up going to the person that bid $2,000 a month for a single room rental
in the last 2 - 3 years there has been a mass exodus from Santa Clara County .. dot coms going under .. massive layoffs in the semi-conductor industry .. more housing is available now than in the last 3 years .. and the prices?  they haven't moved
during the time when rental costs in the Bay Area were rocketing out of control, the cost of living was (if i recall correctly) upwards of 7% .. while my employer had normally given out annual cost of living increases, 3 years ago they refused to match the 7% and instead handed out increases of 2%
(currently, the San Francisco/San Jose area is back down to a more reasonable annual cost of living increase of 1/2 %)
my own little cottage used to rent for $900 a month until i moved in .. knowing it was a "sellers market" the landlords increased the rent to $1,700 a month
i moved to the Bay Area in high school .. a million years ago .. well, ok, more like 30 years ago .. while i would love to plan on retiring here, there is NO way under the current housing situation .. once both my children are safely tucked away in college i'm out of here
you can read more here on the findings by United Way ...
BAY AREA / 1 in 4 families can't afford basics / United Way study finds widespread poverty